FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK: What kind of stories do you REALLY want?

In the course of my random dealings with folks in our community, I hear my fair share of criticisms of the newspaper and how someone might be able to “do it just a little bit better.”

I’m long since numb to the fact that about half the people out there hate me and the other half can at least stand me. I think that means we are doing something right. I have the liberals calling me a no-good conservative and the Republicans are calling me a bleeding-heart liberal.

One very common complaint that I hear when I’m out and about around the community is this one: “The newspaper never runs any good news. Just run that trash. It would be nice to see some good news in the paper for a change.”

I think it makes people feel good to say things like that out loud – fulfills them with a sense of morality that they have expressed the need to see the “good news” of our community. They have done their part now.

But those statements are nothing more than talk. And I can prove it. Our readers don’t want good news. I know all of your dirty secrets. And the numbers, my friends, don’t lie.

There is no way I can place metrics on each individual story in our print edition and tell which ones are the most read, which ones keep attention spans longer and which ones turn people off. But, I can do all of those things through our online metrics.

Our website, which draws in a few thousand of you every single day (more on some days than others), has handy little tools at my disposal. I know which stories are the most read. I know which stories are the least read. I know the average length of time you spend looking at the page the story is on. I can even see if you are coming to us through Facebook links, direct search, links on Google or other avenues available.

My conclusion – you don’t want “good news.” Good news, while available, is nowhere near the top 25 in the metric list.

So far this year (from Jan. 1 through May 9) we have filed about 240 stories on our website for your reading pleasure. I took a glance at the top 25 most read stories. Want to hear the shocker? Most all of them could be classified as “bad news.” Of course that can be a little arbitrary depending on your personal definition of “bad news.”

I’m not saying that the “bad news” doesn’t have its place in the newspaper, because it most certainly does. Unfortunately, bad things happen and it is our responsibility to report that news, whether it cast a good image or a bad image on our town or county. Unfortunately, bad things will happen. And we will be there to report them. And, believe it or not, we do not like it.

Those stories are there. And we report them with the same effort and diligence as the “bad news.” Good things do happen in our community and we are vigorously working to tell those stories.

You just don’t want to read them. The numbers don’t lie.

-Josh Peterson is the editor of the Manchester Times. He is a Tennessee Press Association award-winning writer and photographer. His column, “From the editor’s desk” won TPA first-place honors for best personal humor column. He can be reached by email at mteditor@lcs.net or by telephone at 931-728-7577 ext. 105. Click here to follow him on Twitter @joshpeterson29